DeeSpencer

No, he was a victim of our uncontested game dropping right away under Port’s pressure, our game turning in to more defensive half and countering in straight lines and his own struggles winning the ball in a tough contested game. I doubt it will see him dropped purely on form reasons, but there might be a physical reason why he wasn’t up to the pace of play. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the sub.

Interesting thought exercise, possibly with a snap and a heap of wind. But in the real world if it hits the post it hits the post, at least until they bring in ball tracking technology.

Petty back for a 1-2 games. I lean towards Hore sub and someone in at half forward, just not sure who! Fullarton? Woey? Laurie? Or….is it time for the Kolt? But Hore in too and Salem back on ball works as well.

I think that's a generous bit of paraphrasing. Howes had a couple of good games on the wing and I believe we had a few midfield injuries at the time. Not sure he would've developed fast enough to get ahead of any of Dunston, Harmes, JJ who were the midfield depth in 22. Even last year he had taken another step forward with more consistent footy across half back but never really threatened to get a game. Still looked more like a hopeful for this year than a certainty and sounds like he had a big preseason to improve a lot. JT's always going to pump up his picks in an offseason fan podcast. Good news on AMW. Happy that Kolt's at least settled in and competing. Keen to see more of a fitter Sestan.

I hope they do, but his training program is reflective of missing the Casey game with concussion. Skill session and extra work because he hasn't played on the weekend.

Seems to be a bit of a reverse Grundy situation! I think the club knows he’s better as a forward, but if he is to play he’ll have to be a back up ruck. So they’re getting him as many ruck minutes as they can justify.

You’re incorrect

Dixon’s the only match up there I remotely like. Mobility of the others worries me. I suspect it’s Petty back until May returns post bye with that line up

If Tomlinson is proven in any way, it’s proven that the coach only plays him in cases of emergency and usually for a set match up. Tommo and T Mc together gives me shudders of playing getting turned around. That said. Not sold on Fullarton or who else is available as a forward/mid.

I know Jackson is a specialist ruck but there was no concerns about him rucking in year 1 or 2, I don’t see the concerns about JVR doing it in year 3. Obviously have to monitor his tank, get him forward development time but I think so far it’s great.

All 3 can play together, just as Jackson, Brown, T Mc did in 2021. But it needs the right conditions and roles. JVR (in the Jackson role) probably rucks a little more and Max has a fraction more rest. Petty has to be very fit so he can pressure and lead high up the ground in the T Mc 2021 role. BBB has to be healthy. And they have to make the right choice out of Billings/Chandler/Sparrow to go out of the 22 and have confidence in Tracc and Clarry’s midfield minutes. Fritsch takes a different role. And Pickett has to be forward to pressure and capitalise on 3 talls. That’s a long way of saying I doubt we see it this week because Petty isn’t close to 100%. And using the South Aussie games as squad opportunities, rest one tall in each for the quick back up would be smart to me. Maybe they play 3 against Port then add fresh midfield legs for the Crows, but the extra small and swap the talls is what I’d do.

Probably, was in at nearly every centre bounce too before swapping forward. Although Tracc generally plays high 80’s when he rests forward more as well.

If the Bont is chasing ANB in to the back pocket then it’s not a matter of fitness or second effort. He’s more than done his part, where’s the Dogs half back that’s meant to track ANB’s forward run?Youd be annoyed he didn’t do it but getting up and manning the mark is effort 3 or 4 for a superstar mid to run with Nibbler.

As long as you’re still coaching defensive skills and effort I’d much rather prioritise attacking because you’re coaching hand balling and kicking skills, flair and getting the ball in young guys hands to make decisions. Got to be easier to add a couple of role players to help stiffen a side that has skills than go the other way. But it’s all a balance. Roos ball set the table in terms of defensive effort and contested work for when Goody added a much more attacking system. Then they got the defensive stuff right. Now it’s time to go more attacking again and get Windsor, Howes, McVee, JVR some footy in their hands.

I don't agree with all of this. It was Luke Beveridge as the Hawks backline coach in 2012-2014 who really bought the zone defending in as a style. Josh Gibson was a huge part of it. But Goody saw it fairly early and one of the signature games was round 23 2015 where I'm convinced Roosy gave him the reigns against GWS at Docklands in front of less than 9000 people. Mitch White debut and are backline just changed it up after 2 years of Roos ball. 2016 when Goody had the reigns and it was all out attacking zone. The Dogs won the flag with it that year. Then 19/20 Chaplin really started tinkering with less all out zone and a more sophisticated mixture of covering off whilst still intercepting up the ground at times. Bevo now can't seem to find the right balance and mix, but he also doesn't have the cattle down back. Alex Keath was a very good player who then had his body break down. Ryan Gardner injured a lot. Cordy fell off. They've draft a young player for the future in Busslinger, they've had little choice but to take Darcy, JUH, Croft. In the same way that we haven't fixed out forward line they haven't fixed their key defenders, that's the reality of how hard it is to assemble elite talls in their prime and keep them healthy and well supported with depth. Goody, who led the league in scoring in 2018, can't find the right mix up forward when we don't have capable talls fit and available. Can Goody suddenly not coach attack? Or is it the forwards are often ordinary and we prioritised midfield bulls and have struggled to recruit the balance without losing the strength. Tactics are important, but there's too many good coaches across the league looking for holes and prodding at weaknesses. Fitness, health, talent acquisition and development of young players, all of which the head coach has some responsibility for are all vital.

The kick will be a fine or a week, I'm not really fussed. Dumping McGrath was well worth it. You run at someone looking for trouble and it should be open slather. Players agitating a defender after kicking a goal and as blatantly as McGrath did don't deserve any protection, it should be an immediate free kick against them, failing that, a body slam.

McGrath went at Sicily. Sicily sitting him on his backside should be rewarded for efficient self defence. The kick was a little bit naughty, but he should get off.

Round 1 of the vfl season proper on Sunday and with some luck we can play the sub and carry over emergency (likely Woey and Tholstrup) both at Casey. Which means along with Laurie with K Brown and AMW/Sestan rotating they’ll have a good supply of mids so even up against a strong Box Hill team (they’re always strong) Petty will have a chance to get on the end of a few.

I’m more than aware they didn’t do it for free but they were adding an extra round and travel for 16 teams, the afl snuck it through cheaply. They should’ve held out for more than they got

The players were all over the idea of gather round. I didn’t hear any pushback or bargaining from them. If they go to 24 home and away games the aflpa should just fold.

Geez this place bounces wildly back and forth on Sparrow. I said this after the 2021 grand final and I'll say it again now. He's a great role player who has limitations with his disposal but absolutely busts his backside and always cracks in hard. He had 0 CBAs today so naturally his disposals are down. 6 score involvements is solid work though. And his effort is all over the tracker sheet. 2nd in sprint distance. 2nd in average speed. 4th in total sprints. 2nd in average speed in attack. Stop with this madness that he'd get dropped for a kid.

Yep I thought he was very strong, whilst he had a couple of Lever moments it's really good to see him working on his attacking game. That goes for all our key backs, I just hope May finds his kicking and decision making radar some time soon! But for Lever especially as the chief interceptor to be a 2 way player would provide so much for our team that's been missing the last couple of years.

I've got no issues with it. For one Billings needs frequent reminders that defense and contest are part of the game, didn't see a lot of that from him against the Swans or in the preseason. He's a potential offensive weapon but no player should be above the teams defensive needs and effort. But the biggest reason was match ups. Spargo was in for Pickett, a mistake throwing Charlie out but Billings would never have provided that pressure role. Then they wanted ANB as the 3rd winger because the Swans have genuine weapons on the wing in Gulden and Campbell. Players you can't give space, same with Lizard, Florent etc at half back. The Dogs wingers being who knows and who cares were much better match ups. It was a mistake but Billings 2 touches in 38% game time at half forward against the Swans suggests it meant very little.

How did the Collingwood attacking style go in 2 of 3 finals last year? They fell across the line playin defensive footy clinging to leads for most of those games. Against GWS they broke every rule in the book for 10 straight minutes scrumming the ball around. How did their accuracy go last week? If social media is anything to go by their fans wouldn't mind if they won games by 1-0 for the next 100 years. Sure, we need to find a more attacking brand. We got close to it in a number of games last year and then rolled out a forward line of nothing and midfield down on zip for the finals. I don't know where you sit but in the MCC members and the northern stand there's a whole lot of nervous disappointed fans and not a whole lot of noise and that's the bulk of our crowd. The next step is the club doing something proactive to increase engagement but I don't mind at all that the fans are challenged as well. At least they're half way there by recognising the fans are exactly fired up. Even if we drop away and miss finals this year it's still the best collection of talent we've had in 50 years. The team isn't complete and has a bad attacking game right now but we have to appreciate the physicality, defensive effort and flashes of attack the guys are putting out there.

I don't get why people are offended by this. But at the same time simply asking is unlikely to achieve anything. Step 1 is playing with more dare, dash and confidence and hoping the crowd notice that shift and get behind it. But there's more to be done to fire up the fans so they feed in positive energy too. They took away Howies/Hogans Hangers because someone concussed themselves. Soft if you ask me but fair enough I guess. Replaced it with an impossible kick to a paint tin. They've experimented with a former AFLW player screeching at us. Thankfully that's done. As much as we shouldn't need them the 'get loud' signals on the tv screens seem to work. Why not put a camera on the head of the cheer squad after goals and have the crowd do 'Mel-bourne clap clap clap'. In the NFL the SeaHawks raise a flag before every home game. In the NBA the Philly 76ers ring a bell. Richmond honour a home coming hero for every home game, it's a great tradition. There's a lot more that can be done to encourage positivity in our fans, cut the nervous tension and get a better connection between the fans and players.